Petfinder.com changes lives
Barnum’s story
When our chocolate Lab, Bailey, was 4 years old, my husband Gary & I started thinking about getting a second dog. It really was just a thought until one Sunday night in January 2004. We were watching a t.v. show about homeless pets on Animal Planet and realized that adopting a dog might be a good idea. Gary went to the computer and discovered Petfinder.com, a website devoted to finding homes for needy animals. After performing a search for Labrador Retrievers in our area, there was one that seemed like a possibility. He was a black lab who was 11 months old and lived only about an hour and a half away from us. Gary called the owner of the dog and learned that they needed to find him a new home due to his excessive energy and their lack of space for him to run and play. They made an appointment for us to meet the next evening. The next day, we set out with Bailey in the back of my car and some cash to cover the adoption fee if we wanted to adopt the dog. When we arrived at the home of the family that owned the dog, we were greeted by them – a nice couple with 4 kids – and a very high strung black lab puppy that immediately latched his front legs onto my leg and began humping away. He was very attractive and seemed friendly (a little too friendly!) but we were concerned by the energy level that he portrayed. Having already raised Bailey from an 8 week old puppy, we were well aware that labs have lots of energy but this one seemed a bit extreme.
We had decided to leave Bailey in the car at first to give us a chance to meet the puppy without him having the added distraction of another dog. The puppy calmed down a little but was still running all around the house and even stole some food off the kitchen counter. After a little while, we decided to bring Bailey in to meet his potential new brother. This went pretty smoothly, although the puppy was quite excited to see Bailey and continuously barked at him while crouching down in an effort to entice Bailey to play with him. Bailey was unimpressed yet tolerant of this youth’s behavior. After quite a while, they seemed to be getting along so we decided to give the dog a chance. We have over 2 acres of property with an invisible fence line so we hoped that the opportunity to run around freely would help calm him down. We thought Bailey would like having a companion to play with as well since he is full of energy himself.
We went through the process of getting all the papers signed and before we knew it, we had ourselves a second dog. As we prepared to hit the road, we put both dogs in the back of my car along with the puppy’s crate. Thinking that the puppy would just be happy to lie down with Bailey, we left him out of the crate and were on our way. Boy were we wrong! Within minutes, the puppy was trying to climb into the back seat from the way back and I was turned around from the passenger seat trying to push him back and saying “no”. This was not working as he desperately wanted to be in the front with us. Bailey was looking at me with a “what’s going on around here?” expression. Having been with us from such a young age, he knew that this puppy’s behavior was unacceptable.
At the next rest stop, we pulled over and put the puppy in his crate in hopes that he would now just go to sleep until we got him home. Wrong again! As we merged back onto the highway, the barking started. It was a loud, shrill bark that didn’t stop. Bailey looked at me again, this time saying “who invited him?” and then Gary & I looked at each other and said “what have we done?”
Well, to make a long story short, after just a couple of sleepless nights, our new addition settled into his new life and became fast friends with Bailey. We had decided to call him Barnum and he learned his new name in no time (he had never really learned his old name). With some open space for running and playing, a brother to play with, and some good, patient training, Barnum has turned into a wonderful companion for Bailey and for us. He is a sweetheart and just loves affection. He has learned not to take food off of counters and how to sit, shake, and lie down among other things. One of his favorite activities is to chase the beam of a laser pointer that we have turned into a dog toy (look for these soon in our store!). We are so thankful to websites such as Petfinder.com, for providing a place to easily search for dogs (and other animals) in need of homes. Barnum wasn’t in an abusive situation, but he was in a home that was not suitable for a dog with his level of energy and his previous owners were smart to realize this. We were lucky enough to find him and to be able to provide him with all that he needed. He has been part of our family for 3 years now and we can’t imagine life without him.
